The Athens and Epidaurus Festival 2015 is celebrating its 60th year and is opening its doors from June 1st to August 31 with a rich theatrical and musical programme, including directors and theatre companies of international acclaim, such as Romeo Castellucci with Societas Raffaello Sanzio and Thomas Ostermeier with Schaubuhne, as well as Companies such as She She Pop from Berlin, Young Jean Lee’s Theatre from New York.

This year’s programme will open on June 1st with Dimitris Mavrikios’ theatrical version of Emanuel Roidis' Pope Joan.The performance is based on a text that interweaves elements from the banned 1866 novel of the same title but also from Roidis’ life with his mother, Chios-born noblewoman Kornilia Rodokanaki, a woman with a tumultuous life, who was imprisoned and sold as a slave in a harem, following the Destruction of Chios in 1822.